We had planned to leave home in the early afternoon last Friday for my son’s audition at Boston Conservatory, Berklee. But at the last minute, he received an email from a different university. The message said we had missed the merit-based financial need deadline for Johns Hopkins University (and its conservatory, Peabody Institute) but that we could still be considered for need-based aid if we got the paperwork in NOW.
Weeks earlier, we had finished the complicated and time-consuming FAFSA form and the even more complicated and time-consuming CSS form and had both submitted to JHU, among other schools. But we did not realize that JHU requires several complicated and time-consuming forms of its own. In all fairness, I’m pretty sure there were emails saying so, but the emails all go to the applicant’s email address, and we all know how diligently teenagers check their email.
It was hard to see the point, since the school’s forms asked for all the same stuff that we’d already submitted on the other forms. But if those were the hoops we were required to jump through, all we could ask was, “How high?” So we finished the paperwork and submitted everything, and left two hours later than planned for our trip to Boston Conservatory at Berklee School of Music.
But I am bummed about the merit aid deadline. I think JHU and its Peabody Conservatory may be the very best choice for him, if he can get into both. But we can’t afford it without financial aid, and a lot of it.
And now we go back to visiting colleges for auditions, interviews, and portfolio reviews; filling out whatever other forms are required for the various schools; and waiting for the decisions….
If you’d like to know more about the college search saga, see my other posts on the topic:
The Petrini Page 